Jonathan’s Claim On Zoning Ludicrous - Atiku

PHOTO: FORMER VICE PRESIDENT AND PRESIDENTIAL ASPIRANT, ALHAJI ATIKU ABUBAKAR.

ABUJA, Sept 27, (THEWILL) – The fireworks expected in the 2011 presidential race entered a higher gear today as Alhaji Abubakar Atiku, a former Vice President and presidential aspirant of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has shot down President Goodluck Jonathan’s claim that zoning does not exist for the Presidency and Governorship slots in the PDP. Atiku described the president’s claim as ludicrous.

The former Vice President said the principle of zoning and rotation of power is

the very foundation upon which the PDP was built as a party. "It is either President Jonathan is not a member of the PDP or is living in denial of the same principle of zoning which saw his emergence as Vice President in 2007," he said.

He said for avoidance of doubt, the PDP Constitution is borrowed from the federal character provision of the 1999 Constitution as Amended. He referred President Jonathan to Section 7.2.C of the PDP Constitution which states "in pursuance of the principle of equity, justice and fairness, the party shall adhere to the policy of rotation and zoning of party and public elective offices and it shall be enforced by the appropriate executive committee at all levels."

He promised to mail a copy of the PDP Constitution to the President.

The PDP’s zoning arrangement has generated so much controversy since the demise of President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua a few months ago, while in his third year of a four-year presidency. Umaru Yar’Adua hailed from Katsina, northern Nigeria. Yar’Adua’s demise allowed Goodluck Jonathan, a Southerner assume office as president.

However, the power play that ensued over Yar’Adua’s succession has continued to rear its head in the PDP.

Some northern politicians have continued to maintain that the North still has a four-year-tenure to complete at the presidency before power returns to the South.

In a bid to actualize its bid, the northern presidential aspirants in the party have vowed to present a consensus candidate at the PDP primaries, a move which analysts doubt will succeed because of the ego of the aspirants.